


conquest of spaces

by nui (cogito)



Category: Kagerou Project
Genre: M/M, baccano au, uh god idk dumping this here so i can delete it off tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-29 01:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3877678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cogito/pseuds/nui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a collection of drabblets for the baccano kuroshin au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

For Late-August, the afternoon is cool. Shintaro pushes around the pasta on his plate, absently staring at the building the Kokonoses had made their home. The pasta isn’t bad for some dinky little Italian place in the middle of Chinatown, but his mind is focused somewhere else, so the meal in front of him doesn’t really matter. Haruka called him in earlier to discuss something about the information he had fished out of the Tateyama girl, about him being in danger.

Then, out of nowhere, another man seats himself in the chair across from him while he’s distracted by his thoughts. The brass legs screech as the cloaked man pushes himself back, then forward again so his legs are tucked under the table. The dark haired man folds his arms on the table, mussling the mop of black on his head, then back again.

“Excuse m-” Shintaro opens his mouth, then closes it. The look in the other man’s eyes is dangerous and the way he’s posed radiates danger. Shintaro’s not good at reading people, but he didn’t need a degree in cold reading to know this guy wasn’t joking around. Shintaro bows his head, opting for the remainder of his uneaten meal, even if he had no appetite.

The other man reaches forward to grab his wrist, forcing his fork to fall out of his hand and clattering on to the plate. “Hey!” Shintaro growls, “What’s the big idea!?

“Just a second,” The man whispers, pulling his other hand up to twine his fingers between the gaps of Shintaro’s captured hand. The grin on his face seems to grow as he distangles his fingers, placing a quick kiss against the tip of Shintaro’s ring finger instead.

Shintaro just stares in disbelief, making the most disgusted face he can possibly manage. But then the man stands up, yanking Shintaro to his feet without saying a word, and Shintaro’s last nerve snaps. He tries to distangle his wrist from the other’s man’s grasp, pulling as hard as he can to get free with one hand and pushing with his other. The other doesn’t relent, and instead rounds the table so his other hand is gripping Shintaro’s collar.

“Will you fuck off already!”

The waitress behind them opens her mouth, perhaps to issue a warning, but as soon as Shintaro turns his head to tell her he’s got this under control, the stranger kisses him, bending him backwards as the kiss intensifies until he’s sprawled back against the table and the stranger above him. The pasta clatters to the edge of the table, wobbling but remaining steady.

“Good,” The stranger whispers, breathless, “You’re flexible, Shintaro.”

Shock freezes Shintaro’s face, until a moment later he wipes his mouth. Then he pushes the stranger away roughly as he rinses his mouth out with coke. The stranger’s hands are tucked into his pocket, and he turns on his heel and virtually disappears before Shintaro can open his mouth again to ask how he knew, clambering and flipping over obstacles in the street. 

How the hell did he know my name?

Shintaro watches this in disbelief before shoving a ten bill on the table. His meal paid for and the harassment over, Shintaro makes his way across the street up the stairs to meet with Haruka, determined to forget the kiss from before, even if their lips had barely touched.


	2. Chapter 2

“So, who do you want me to kill next?" 

His feet are slung over the coffee table, checking his pristine nails as his older brother throw small glances at him from their respective positions. Haruka’s at this desk, filing out some papers, while Konoha, a sandwich half-eaten in his hands, stands at the glass window overlooking the street. Kuroha doesn’t look up in response to their shuffling, deciding that his nails and the nailfile between his fingers were more interesting than whatever his siblings were mumbling now.

Haruka clears his throat, "Well, we’d prefer it if you didn’t kill anyone. The job’s a little different this time, Kuroha.”

“Mm?” Haruka’s odd request has the assassin tilt his head down to finally look at them, yellow eyes gleaming with curiosity, “How different?”

“We’d like you to protect someone this time, someone you know-”

“I’m not interested in protecting little girls.” Kuroha’s voice cuts in mid-sentence, but Haruka ignores him, continuing on with his words.

“-We think he’s being threatened by Kenjirou because he knows more than he should. It would be good if you could watch over him for a little bit until we’ve neutralized the threat.”

Kuroha closes his eyes, leaning back on his couch as he takes this into consideration. He glances at Konoha, too, thinking that a sandwich would be nice since he’s just returned from a mission. A minute or two later, he lifts his feet off the table onto the ground and leans forward. Sliding the metal nail-filer on to the table, Kuroha knits his hands together, setting them just under his chin. With quirked brow and a light grin, Kuroha asks, "I can’t neutralize them myself?“

Haruka smiles, "I never said that.”

Loud voices clamour outside the door of their little conference room, however, and Konoha shoves the rest of his sandwich in his mouth to go open it, nodding to Haruka as he does so. As he pushes open the door, it reveals a dark haired boy in a red jersey, not much older than his late teens.

“Jeez, it took you guys long enough! So, who’s this protector you guys are so adamant on getting me?” The boy grumbles under his breath, running a hand through his messy, shaggy haired, “I don’t need some stupid babysitter.”

Upon seeing the boy Kuroha’s eyes widen, the smirk melting into a slight gasp of shock. It quickly recovers before the boy can open his mouth, however.

“Oh god,” The boy gasps like the air’s been knocked out of him, “Not him.”

The dark haired assassin smirks in response, already rising up to greet him, “It’s been a while, Shintaro. Have you been well?”


	3. Chapter 3

There’s always this thing about how elusive Haruka is, even though he’s so available for consultation, that’s always driven Shintaro crazy. The eldest Kokonose is always hiding something behind his mask of kindness, and Shintaro as his childhood friend can’t help but think about how worrying eighteen years of friendship has been if he doesn’t know a single thing about Haruka besides the information at fed to him at the surface.

It’s rare that Kuroha ever leaves him for finish an assignment. He doesn’t need Kuroha to explain that whatever it was, it was urgent. Sucking in a breath, Shintaro raps the door to Haruka’s office. Even though Kuroha dumped him in the Kokonose building finish, Shintaro is still relieved to be away from the assassin for even five minutes, let alone the two or three hours he needs for an assignment.

What if he doesn’t want to see me? He worries. He asked Takane downstairs if Haruka was in, and Takane quipped that none of the Kokonoses were going anywhere. Haruka and Konoha must still be in the big conference room on the second floor if Kuroha was off doing his job.

Before he has the chance to bolt, Haruka’s “Come in,” comes through from the other side of the door, however muffled. Shintaro laughs nervously, rubs his arm and pushes open the door.

Haruka’s office smells like the old books in the corner. He scans the interior of the room before catching Haruka’s eye. The Kokonose boss is working on something at his desk, but when he looks up and catches Shintaro’s face, he beams so wide the smile reaches his ears and rops the paperwork immediately. 

He rises out of his seat, gesturing to the couch, “Sit, sit! I’ll get you some cola or something!”  
Shintaro scratches his head, “No, it’s fine…! I probably won’t be staying for long. I’m sure Kuroha’s almost done, right?” But he does make the strides to sit in the couch in Haruka’s room, trying not to notice the big, gaping wound in the armrest.

“I’d rather stay and talk to you while we wait for him to get back.” Shintaro glances at his hands, “I’d like to know more about you… We’ve been friends for a while, but… I don’t really know that much…”

Haruka sits down beside him. The smile disappears from his face as all colour drains out. “More about me?” Then he laughs and shoves Shintaro against the couch, clambering over on top and straddling his lap. His left hand pins Shintaro’s wrists above his head, against the armrest, while his right produces a knife. 

The mafia boss leans close to Shintaro’s face. Haruka’s breath is hot and tastes faintly of the tea still on his desk. Haruka’s hand tightly gripping his wrists is starting to make them ache. Shintaro glances upwards, straight into Haruka’s face.

Haruka’s eyes look is controlled and calculating. The smile he wears looks out of place. Shintaro has never gotten such a close look at Haruka’s honey coloured eyes before. If you asked him, he would have said the boy was just as sweet, yet the shadow hiding behind them now made Shintaro wonder if Haruka had always looked so pale and lovesick.

“Well,” He murmurs, “Why don’t we start with the basics?” The penknife moves from Shintaro’s throat to the button on his shirt, then further down as Haruka nicks off the two buttons there.

 

Shintaro gulps.


	4. Chapter 4

Kuroha barges into Haruka’s office not long after Shintaro has left. The door slam open so hard it almost rocks off its hinge, and Kuroha stands in the doorway, glaring. His normally slick face is red with anger, “You- touched him! How fucking dare-”

Haruka gently takes a sip of the tea in his hands. He has no response, but instead watches the red boil over Kuroha’s face. Then he smiles, gently setting the cup of tea onto its plate and tenting his hands together as he leans forward on the desk.

“Take a seat, and let’s talk about what it is you claimed I ‘touched’ before you pop a blood vessel.“

Kuroha bites his lip. The way Haruka spoke to him was more than enough for Kuroha to follow his orders. He manages to seat himself on the couch without looking too nervous, crossing his legs and leaning back in his usual relaxed pose to make this whole thing less suspicious. He didn’t want to seem too angry. His hand drifts over the arm rest.

“Well? What have you got to say for yourself?”

Haruka’s attention is directed elsewhere as he twiddles the brass fountain pen in his fingers. Kuroha’s staring at him, but not at his hands. He could easily twist that to his knowledge. He tucks it inside his vest as he pushes himself up from the table to join Kuroha on the couch.

“What are you even talking about?” He asks, “What are you so adamant that I ‘touched’?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Haruka! Shintaro! You touched Shintaro, didn’t you?”

Haruka says nothing and waits for Kuroha to continue.

“He smells just like you, so you must have kissed hi-”

Kuroha doesn’t finish that sentence with words but with a howl of pain. Haruka’s glittering fountain pen is now thickly embedded between Kuroha’s bones, cushioned between his bones. Kuroha’s gaze panders slowly towards Haruka, and the eldest brother smiles, serene and undisturbed.

“Who?”

Kuroha grits his teeth, “Shintaro! You kissed S-”

Haruka pushes the pen deeper, and Kuroha yelps as he tries to alleviate the pressure. He’s hissing under his breath now, cursing his brother and cursing Haruka’s short, messed up temperament and how fucking easily he walks into it.

“Do you, have something to say?”

The younger brother’s gaze sweeps over from the ground to his elder brother. His breath is laboured, but Haruka’s eyes betray no hint of sympathy. Instead, Kuroha smirks wrily. When Kuroha opens mouth again, Haruka stabs him, narrowing avoiding major blood veins and puncturing his lungs but it digs deep nonetheless from the force and the blade. “Fucking shit! Fuck! What the fuck, Haruka! Haruka!”

But Haruka twists the knife until Kuroha screams again and gives up his attempts to make him stop. He easily bats off Kuroha’s attempts to struggle free, straddling his lap with one hand over the fountain pen and the other still tightly gripped around the hilt of the knife in Kuroha’s arm. He lowers himself until his dark eyes have caught Kuroha’s yellow ones, full of fear.

“So much for an assassin so untouchable that even a tommy wouldn’t hit you at point blank,” Haruka says slowly, “…Brother.”

He removes his hand from the hilt of the knife to instead lap at the blood that’s pouring from the wound. Kuroha squirms beneath him, squealing about how gross it feels when Haruka’s tongue digs into the open wound. Haruka ignores him. 

Luckily for Kuroha, his wardrobe is dark. The steady stream of blood wouldn’t even look odd once it dried, Shintaro wouldn’t even pay attention. 

When he’s seen enough embarrassment from Kuroha’s face, Haruka unstraddles him and pulls out the weapons penetrating his body. His own hands and face are covered with blood, and Haruka makes a ground show of it as he shrugs, “Well, I’ve made a mess.” Then he simply returns to his seat behind the desk, crossing his legs and picking up the newspaper and his tea.

To the Kuroha currently half-dead on his couch, Haruka mumbles, “You should get back to him, before he gets mugged again.” And after another sip of tea, he continues, “Since you’re so keen on keeping him safe, after all, even if you’re so willing to nearly die for him. Close the door on your way out.” 

From his position, Kuroha glowers. Then he struggles to get out of his seat, stumbling out of the room and slamming the door behind him to the best of his ambulatory abilities.

Haruka smiles in response, twirling the bloodstained fountain pen between his fingers.


	5. Chapter 5

In January, Haruka takes Kuroha out to lunch for pasta, and afterwards brings him home to where he had grown up by himself. The apartment tiny single, second floor flat in the middle of an alley with a hidden entrance that Kuroha nearly slips climbing up. The room is empty, but the smoky smell from the lantern is permanently there, and Haruka breathes in. It’s home.

“So, this is where you grew up without us, Haru?” Kuroha asks, stroking the hazy wall with his finger and then inspecting it. He looks almost disgusted, but he’s still glancing around the flat even though there’s nothing to see.

Haruka nods silently, walking along the barely patched wall until he’s located the place where the tiny window shut together. Then, he calls Kuroha over to look at what he’s found.

“Yeah? What is it, Haru-”

Haruka reaches out to grab Kuroha’s wrist, then twists it and kisses him without warning. Kuroha squints, wincing in pain as his arm bends at an uncomfortable angle to almost snap. Haruka slides his hands under Kuroha’s jacket, looking for something. 

When he’s found whatever he’s looking for, Haruka breaks apart. He waits a moment for Kuroha to kiss back, and when Kuroha doesn’t, Haruka’s hands start roaming his chest again for the knife that Kuroha keeps on his person at all times.

Kuroha tastes like Shintaro. The sweet taste of sugar is somewhere in his mouth, and for a minute, Haruka explores Kuroha’s mouth, trying to find the source of all that sugar which he doesn’t quite find. It’s curious where it comes from, but even more curious how it lingers. Kuroha squirms under him, trying to escape. 

Despite Kuroha’s attempts, Haruka doesn’t let him go until the article from Kuroha’s jacket is firmly secured. Kuroha wipes his mouth, hissing, “What the fuck-”

Then Haruka stabs him with the knife with only the smile on his face. Kuroha doesn’t scream. His mouth parts, and Haruka almost kisses him again. The blood gushes from Kuroha’s chest, and the assassin only stares, unable to comprehend the situation. It feels surreal, like he isn’t even there. It isn’t the first time he’s been stabbed, and by Haruka no less. 

“G-gu-”

He supposes he should know better, but he keeps walking into this because Haruka pays him the best out of everybody else he’s ever met.

Messily, Haruka’s fingers fill the gaping stab wound again as Kuroha slinks to the ground, leaving a bloody trail behind him. Haruka kisses him again, digging his fingers deeper into the rupture, listening to Kuroha fidget, hiss, and scream underneath him. Then he removes his hands from Kuroha’s would, cupping Kuroha’s cheeks with his bloody hands.

“You’re the best, Kuro,” Haruka whispers, leaning his forehead against Kuroha’s, “I love you so much.” Kuroha’s breathing is already somewhat heavy; so it would be best not leave him like this for too long. He watches Kuroha’s eyelids lower, and pushes Kuroha out the window, despite him bleeding everywhere and possibly to death.

The vision of Haruka looming above him from the window, and the smell of his own blood stains the snow in the corner, but it’s already getting too hard to breathe, so Kuroha closes his eyes and remembers to stab Haruka when he wakes up, if he ever does.  
Someone below him in the street screams.

When he wakes he finds himself half bandaged, and resting on a pillow that he realizes is Shintaro’s lap soon enough. Shintaro isn’t looking down at him, but the worried expression on his face is more than enough for him to decide to mess with him. Kuroha smirks, and reaches up to touch Shintaro’s cheek without saying anything. His client screams, scrambling backwards up at the touch until Kuroha reels with laughter, coughing and nearly choking, wheezing until his breath goes back into his lungs. 

“Did you nurse me better, Shintaro?” Kuroha mumbles, and his hand returns to his side.

“No,” Shintaro replies, “Who the fuck would take care of you? Go back to sleep.”

Kuroha smiles to himself, and closes his eyes again.


	6. Chapter 6

The day after Kuroha comes back from visiting his brother, he’s covered in bandages. In the little apartment somewhere in Chinatown he’s hiding out in, Shintaro manages to treat Kuroha to the best of his abilities despite Kuroha’s continuous bitching while instructing him about where the stitches go.

“You should just go to a doctor. Don’t you have someone in charge of this?”

Kuroha hums, but doesn’t give him an answer as he watches Shintaro squirm and fidget, unraveling bandages.

“What the fuck happened, anyway?”

Kuroha says nothing on this either, and his gaze trails out the window onto the street below. Shintaro notices the absent look on his eyes, and doesn’t question him any further. He won’t get a response, anyway. The bandages are safely wrapped around Kuroha’s chest, so Shintaro tosses them to the side with a nice pat. 

Then Shintaro crawls onto Kuroha’s lap.

“What,” Kuroha says, flatly, “Are you doing.”

“It’s called sexual healing,” Shintaro mumbles, trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed. He doesn’t move from his position, even though he’s shaking. There’s nothing to be shy about, they’ve already done it, right? It’s not like he hasn’t seen Kuroha’s dick before. Although, they aren’t really, dating, and the whole idea of being gay would be unacceptable for his parents to think about. He doesn’t want to think about it, shoving the thought out of his head. 

“Really? That’s kind of you,” Kuroha replies, leaning into the crook of Shintaro’s neck, “But you’re going to have to jerk me off yourself since I’m injured, you know.”   
Shintaro’s hand lingers over Kuroha’s crotch, and then he retracts it, “That’s gross, you’re gross.”

Kuroha winks and reaches out to grab Shintaro’s hand, placing it over it over his heart, near the stab wound healing underneath the bandages. “If you wanted,” Kuroha says, “You could kill me right now.“ 

Shintaro rolls his eyes and leaves his hand there, feeling Kuroha’s heartbeats against his palm. Kuroha shifts around again, settling into the frame of Shintaro’s body. His client sighs, then mumbles, “So much for an untouchable assassin… You’re wide open.”

“I could kill you right now.”

“But if you do, Haruka won’t pay you, will he?”

Kuroha purses his lips, looking like he’s actually thinking about it, before he kisses Shintaro in response.


End file.
